Angus Gibbon – violin
Angus studied the violin at the Royal Northern College of Music with Lydia Mordkovich and Richard Deakin. He later continued his studies with Emmanuel Hurwitz and Mikael Kopelman (Borodin Quartet). Angus has split his career between performing and teaching. He has performed with various orchestras and ensembles such as The Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, European Community Chamber Orchestra, Rosell Quartet and Aireton Piano Trio. He is currently co-principal 2nd violin with the English Symphony and English Chamber Orchestras. Angus has had a great deal of experience as a teacher and lecturer at secondary and tertiary levels and is presently Head of Strings at Oundle School. In addition to his performing and teaching commitments, Angus is an upper strings specialist Diploma examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
Ruth Ehrlich – violin
Ruth Ehrlich was for some years the leader of the Fairfield quartet, with whom she toured and broadcast extensively, and recorded the Debussy and Ravel quartets for Hyperion. Since then she has been much in demand as a chamber musician, performing with the Maggini quartet, Ambache ensemble, the Nash Ensemble and Divertimenti, amongst others. She has toured world-wide with the English Chamber Orchestra, and during a spell of living in New York she played in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera. Ruth is actively involved with several groups specialising in contemporary music, the Almeida Ensemble, Lontano, and Apartment House. Her most recent recording work has included two solo violin tracks, one for a National Geographic documentary about whales, and the other a DVD about the life of the artist Margaret Mellis. She enjoys the lighter side of music also, playing the Sound of Music in the West End, and recording string backings for new singles by Peter Kay.
Helen Whitehurst – violin
Helen grew up in Northamptonshire and began the violin at five, studying with David Leech and later with Louis Carus. She led both the Northamptonshire Youth Orchestra and the Northampton Chamber Orchestra. An Instrumental Music Award for Chamber Music allowed her to continue to receive specialised music tuition while studying languages at Cambridge University. A career in business research has taken her to London, Rome and Lausanne, where she freelanced with orchestras such as the Orchestra Francesco Pennisi and the Lausanne Symphony Orchestra. Her most significant challenge to date has been teaching the violin in Italian to primary school children in Rome! Now in Peterborough, Helen continues to enjoy chamber music. Aside from the Hereward Ensemble, she is currently involved with Arco Strings, and also manages two small children in her spare time!
Katharine Parsons – violin/viola
Katharine studied viola with Graeme Scott at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and then went on to study English Literature at Cambridge University. After graduation, she established herself as a viola player and upper strings teacher in Oxfordshire where she did many recitals with the Courtenay Quartet as well as other freelance work. More recently she studied viola with Roger Bigley at the Royal Northern College of Music as part of a PGCE in Specialist String Teaching. Katharine now teaches for Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Service and has a particular interest in the Kodaly method. Katharine is the founder of the Hereward Ensemble and lives in Peterborough.
Leon King – viola
Leon studied with Rudolph Botta in Manchester and Roger Best of the Alberni Quartet before going on to the Royal Academy of Music where he studied viola with Stephen Shingles and chamber music with Sidney Griller. He is a freelance orchestral player performing with a wide range of orchestras on both modern and period instruments, including The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He is an experienced teacher of violin, viola and viola d’amore and taught at the Royal College of Music Junior Department from 1988 to 1997. He has a growing number of private students in Peterborough and has taught viola d’amore at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Leon is also a specialist in viola d’amore and edits and publishes editions of eighteenth century music for the viola d’amore. Leon has lived in Peterborough since 1990.
Jennifer Scurr – cello
Jenny started playing the cello at the age of eight having won a music scholarship on the piano to Port Regis School in Shaftesbury. She achieved her grade 8 in both instruments by the age of 13 and the following year joined the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra. At 18 Jenny became a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating four years later with the highest scoring final recital of that year and with a First Class Honours degree. From there she accepted the offer of a job with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in northern Spain where she stayed for three years before returning to England. Jenny currently teaches cello and piano while also freelancing and playing regularly in a string quartet.